Page 16 of Red Snow
NOTHING.
After spending two hours melting snow with heaters and hair dryers like lunatics, the only thing we found in the mound underneath the snowman, was the rest of the victim’s body parts. Her legs had been broken and twisted in a horrifying manner, and her arms had been cut off and set on top of her torso. It was absolutely gruesome, and after all of that, we didn’t find any evidence pointing to whoever set up the snowman.
The only thing of note that happened was the arrival of the fucking media. After hours of police in the parking lot, obvious crime scene tape, and the cancelation of school at Creekside Park Elementary, the media just put the pieces together. We managed to keep them far enough away that they didn’t get a shot of anything gruesome, but they know there has been a murder, but since we still haven’t identified the victim ourselves, they haven’t leaked anything of importance. However, I know how these trolls work, and that won’t last long, so Marcus and I have to get the ball rolling with a quickness. Which is why we’re sitting in front of Anita Akers, the school counselor who found the horrifying display.
“Her name’s Brenda. Brenda Cox,” Anita tells us with tears in her eyes. She’s a natural red head with lots of freckles on her face and shoulders, and she looks like there isn’t a chance in hell that she’ll ever get over the image she saw this morning. Her jaw is tight and the bags are already forming under her eyes. It’s not the kind of thing you get over quickly.
“Brenda Cox,” Marcus says as he jots down the name. We’re still waiting for a positive ID from the medical examiner, but we have no reason to doubt Anita’s claim. “How long had she worked at Creekside Park?”
“A while. She was here a few years before I was hired,” Anita says, staring down at the floor as we sit inside her office at the school. “She was really nice. Very friendly. I don’t know why anybody would do such a horrible thing.”
Tears quickly begin to flow down Anita’s face as she relives discovering Brenda’s head on display.
“Listen Anita,” I chime in. Marcus glares at me, his way of telling me to approach her with caution. She’s obviously and justifiably fragile right now. I know better than to treat this woman like crap. I’m saving that for the murderer. “I know you’re extremely tired and you’ve had a long day waiting for us to get things sorted out outside. We appreciate you staying to talk to us and I’d like to get you on your way and back to your family as soon as possible. So, could you just tell us if there has been anything going on with Brenda that you know of that would cause you to be suspicious, given what’s happened? Any disagreements with anyone in the staff or maybe a parent? Anything at all?”
Anita sniffs and tries to catch her breath before speaking again, but its’s still a struggle.
“Not that I know of,” she says, her eyes still glued to the tile floor. “I’ve never seen her have any problems with anybody in the staff or with any parents. She was always really nice and seemed to get along with everyone here. Never heard anything bad about her home life or anything like that. I just don’t get it. How could someone do this?”
“That’s what we plan on finding out,” Marcus answers, writing down more info on his blue notepad. “You mentioned her home life. Do you know anything about Brenda’s marriage? Her husband?”
“Her husband? Umm, no, not really. I know they have two kids, and they seemed happy as far as I knew. His name is Patrick, and he’s a car salesmen. He’s always been nice when I’ve seen him at school events and stuff. I don’t really know much about him, but he’s been nice when he comes around.”
“Okay,” Marcus says, wrapping it up. “Well, we appreciate your help very much, Anita. I’m sorry you had to be the one to discover her like this, but I promise we’re going to do everything we can to bring her killer to justice. We appreciate you sticking around to talk to us, and if we have any more questions for you, we’ll let you know. Thank you, Anita.”
“Okay, thank you,” Anita says. She rises to her feet and starts to walk to the door, but before she opens it, she turns to us. “Please catch who did this. For Brenda.”
“I guarantee it,” I reply with confidence. I just want her to know that we’re not fucking around with this. Whoever did this is going to pay.
“Thank you, Mrs. Akers,” Marcus says as Anita turns and walks out of the office and out of the school.
“You guarantee it?” Marcus says, turning to face me.
“Idofucking guarantee it. We’re gonna catch who did this.”
“You don’t know that for sure.”
“So what do you want me to say when she asks us to catch the killer? ‘Uhh, we’ll hope for the best, but maybe not?’ That ain’t how I roll, partner.”
Marcus and I head out of the school and back towards the parking lot after nearly eight hours there.
“So what happens if we don’t catch the killer?” Marcus asks, getting on my nerves with his realist bullshit.
“We’re gonna catch him,” I answer. “Look, I have confidence in us, okay? This is what we do. So shut up, gain some confidence, and meet me back at the department so we can go over all of this shit and set up a meeting with the husband. We also need positive ID from the medical examiner and an approximate time of death. If we don’t know when she died, then we can’t ask where the husband was when she was killed.”
“Yep, got it.”
Marcus and I get into separate cars and make our way back to headquarters. The entire ride over, I give myself pep talk about what’s about to happen.
I can’t forget the image from this morning. I can’t forget what she looked like. The look on her face. The gouged out eyes. The sick, cruel, heartless joke of a snowman—a child’s image that’s supposed to be for fun in the winter, switched into a horrible nightmare for the whole world to see. I can’t forget that. I have to remember it forever so that when it’s time to bring Brenda Cox’s killer to justice, I will not hesitate. I will not stop to think about the rules or what the public perception will be. I’ll act when it’s time. By the time I make it back to HQ, I feel fired up to get the job done. This murderer just knocked on the door of the best motherfucking detective in Alaska, and he’s not going to like it when I answer.
I pull the door to HQ open and breathe in the sight of hard work being done. After I stroll past the blonde receptionist who stares me down with a grin on her face because we hooked up four years ago, in what I’m sure was the best one-night stand she’s ever had, I step into the office that houses Anchorage’s detectives. There are six of us now, but nobody gets attention like Marcus and me.
The office is buzzing this morning. Sergeant Howell is typing like a maniac on the computer in her back office with the door open. Even the fifty-four-year-old clerk, Tom Wallaby, seems like he’s moving faster than usual inside his little hole-in-the-wall office. Everybody wants to know what’s going on with the body at Creekside Park Elementary School, because we’ve seen our fair share of crazy in this city, but this is on a different level, and everybody wants in. As I approach Marcus, who’s already at his desk talking on the phone, I see people staring out of the corner of my eye.
Don’t let anyone ever tell you differently—there absolutely is competition in a police department, just like there is in any other place of employment. Everybody wants to make a come up, so when a case like this pops up, all the detectives strutting through HQ believe that they need to be the one who brings down the killer. Everyone thinks they’re the big shot who’s going to be on the front page of the Anchorage Daily News hauling the infamous killer into the department in hand cuffs. Everybody wants to be king, but that position is held in reserve for me. So, as you might expect, there’s always hate and jealousy.
Our hate and jealousy comes in the form of Marcus’s old partner, Detective Brandon Chavis, a forty-one year old behemoth who hated me before I was ever a good detective. This long-haired, grizzly-bearded asshole has always despised me. Before, it was because I wasn’t good at my job yet, now it’s because Iamgood at my job. He’s the kind of prick who’ll hate you no matter what you do, so when you’re in this type of situation, the best revenge is success. When I’m on a case, I don’t get distracted by assholes like Brandon Chavis. I focus on getting the job done as fast as possible, the results speak for themselves, and that’s all the ammunition I need against a hater like him. His partner, Detective Timothy Kinsley, isn’t as annoying as Brandon is, but since he’s his partner, Marcus and I don’t fuck with him either.
